Just so everyone knows, I pulled that Iginla to the Kings post out of nowhere a couple weeks back. I had not even thought of the Calgary/Sutter connection, but just considered Iginla the type of hard-nosed player who would fit into the Kings lineup very nicely.
Well now it has come to light that Iginla has given the Flames a list of 4 teams he would accept a trade to: the Kings, Hawks, Bruins, and Penguins.
Where will he go?
There has been a good deal of talk about the Pens and B's looking to acquire Iggy, so they're not a surprise. I haven't heard anyone mention the Hawks though before this. For one thing they have only about $3 million in cap space so they'd have to send a lot of salary back because Iggy's cap hit is $7 million.
Boston can also barely afford him with just $7.157 million in cap space.
The Kings have over $9 million in room at the moment. One must of course also consider next year's salary cap. Iggy has said he doesn't want to be a rental so he better be willing to take a pay cut next season if he is going to any of those teams. The Kings have Voynov, Muzzin, Clifford, Lewis, Nolan, Martinez, and Bernier as RFAs this summer (and Voynov is probably gonna get OEL money). Boston has Horton and Ference as UFAs and Rask as an RFA (not to mention that Seguin's cap hit goes up to nearly $6 mil a year). The Hawks don't have any major free agents, but they're also not losing much salary from the guys who could hit the market.
I'm assuming the Penguins are now out of the game since they acquired Morrow today and with his salary added they have just a hair over $7 million in cap space to work with and Evgeni Malkin has to be re-signed next year.
It seems like of the four teams, the Kings are the likeliest destination based on cap space and the ability to re-sign him. I don't wanna see them give up Bernier in the trade, but there are plenty of other prospects they can move (Forbort, Pearson, Kozun, Jones, Deslauriers). It's too bad Hickey is not longer in the equation because Hickey and a couple picks might have gotten the deal done.
If you would like to see my thoughts from two weeks ago on why the Kings should pick up Iginla go here.
If the Kings did get Iginla, how would they line up (assuming no forwards currently on the team are involved in the trade)? I suggest:
Iginla-Kopitar-Williams
Carter-Richards-Toffoli
Brown-Stoll-Penner
King-Clifford-Lewis
Please sound off in the comments on whether you think grabbing Iggy is a good idea or not and how he fits with the Kings.
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